Scientists, led by the Koretti Veterinary School Artta Schlezinger, found that a virus lying inside the dangerous ASPERGILLUS FumiGatus makes it significantly more resistant to stress and increasing its ability to cause severe infections to mammals. As experiences have shown, the removal of the virus has deprived the mushroom from one part of its "force", it has multiplied, has lost its defense mechanisms and has become less dangerous for the body. And antivirus therapy, on the contrary, improved the survival of infected animals. The work was published in the Nature Microbiology magazine.
AsperGillus Fumigatus is one of the main pathogens of invasive fungal infections, especially dangerous for patients with weakened immune systems. The mortality rate of such infections reaches 50%, and for a long time it was considered that the reason was exclusively in mushrooms. But the new job shows that the double RNA virus "stuffing" inside the mushrooms is operating as a hidden amplifier. Thanks to the virus, the pathogen tolerates more easily the aggressive conditions of high temperatures and lungs.
Scientists believe that such microsirus can be an underestimated factor in the development of fungal diseases. And most importantly, they can become a new therapeutic target. If the virus is suppressed, the mushroom loses its ministry and becomes more vulnerable to the immune system and antifungal drugs.
"These viruses are like the seat of molecular passengers," Schlezinger explains. "They do not cause diseases, but they increase the aggression of the sung, when it enters the body."
Discovery changes the perception of fungal infections and gives hope for new strategies to combat them when drug resistance becomes a growing problem.
Translation of: Euromedia24.com
